Page 27 - bne_newspaper_October_05_2018

Weekly Lists
October 5, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 27
bne:Credit
Fitch downgrades 20 Turkish lenders on negative outlook
Fitch Ratings has downgraded the Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Ratings (LTFC IDRs) of 20 Turkish banks and their subsidiaries, the rating agency announced on October 1. The out- looks were given as negative.
Fitch also downgraded the Viability Ratings (VRs) of 12 banks.
The Erdogan administration is tackling a Turkish lira (TRY) devalua- tion crisis which analysts consider could still spark a banking crisis.
The downgrades of the banks' VRs reflected increased risks to their stand-alone credit profiles. In Fitch's view, the banks' performance, asset quality, capitalisation and liquidity and funding profiles are now more likely to come under pressure as a result of the further depreciation of the Turkish lira, the spike in interest rates and the weaker growth outlook.
Romania’s central bank maintained the policy interest rate used to inject one-week funds to the market at 2.5% at its October 3 monetary board meeting, in line with the broad expectations.
The monetary authority delivered a positive outlook on Romania’s economy, mentioning the economic growth in Q2, the “robust growth of credit to the private sector” and the “step-up in the annual pace of increase of industrial output in July”.
The latest assessments reconfirm the outlook for the annual inflation rate to decline further towards the upper bound of the variation band (2.5% +/- 1pp) of the target at the end of this year, in line with the August 2018 medium-term forecast, the central bank also commented.
Iran is developing a range of new financial products, from Islamic bonds to warrants and insurance-linked securities, in an effort to give local firms more funding options as sanctions put pressure on the economy, Reuters reported on October 2.
Despite a respectable recovery in recent days to just short of 147,000 to the dollar by the close of trade on October 3, the Iranian rial (IRR), which last week hit an all-time weak rate of 195,000, has this year under the sanctions assault essentially collapsed against hard currencies while some international economists believe in- flation is running at around 250%. But Iran’s financial system has been able to ride out past periods of sanctions.
Romania’s central bank maintains policy rate, upholds positive economic outlook
Iran prepares Islamic bond, warrant and insurance-linked securities products